Amphetamine
, (chemical formula -C9H13N) a prescription
CNS stimulant commonly used to treat attention-deficit
hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in adults and
children. It is also used to treat symptoms
of traumatic brain injury and the daytime drowsiness
symptoms of narcolepsy and chronic fatigue syndrome.
Initially it was more popularly used to diminish
the appetite and to control weight. Brand names
of the drugs that contain amphetamine include
Adderall and Dexedrine. The drug is also used
illegally as a recreational club drug and as
a performance enhancer. The name amphetamine
is derived from its chemical name: alpha-methylphenethylamine.
The name is also used to refer to the class
of compounds derived from amphetamine, often
referred to as the substituted amphetamines.

Amphetamine
was first synthesized in 1887 by Lazar Edeleanu
at the University of Berlin. He named the compound
phenylisopropylamine. It was one of a series
of compounds related to the plant derivative
ephedrine, which had been isolated from Ma-Huang
that same year by Nagayoshi Nagai. No pharmacological
use was found for amphetamine until 1927, when
pioneer psychopharmacologist Gordon Alles resynthesized
it.[2][3] Alles was part of a group of researchers
looking for an ephedrine substitute. In 1937,
it became available in tablet form. During World
War II it was extensively used to combat fatigue
and increase alertness in soldiers. After decades
of reported abuse, the FDA banned Benzedrine
inhalers, and limited amphetamines to prescription
use in 1965, but illegal use became common.
Amphetamine became a schedule II drug with the
passage of the Controlled Substances Act in
1970.

The
related compound methamphetamine was first synthesized
from ephedrine in Japan in 1918 by chemist Akira
Ogata via reduction of ephedrine using red phosphorus
and iodine. The German military was notorious
for their use of methamphetamine in World War
Two.It is also known that Adolf Hitler was receiving
daily shots of a medicine that contained certain
essential vitamins and amphetamines. The German
pharmaceutical Pervitin is an oral pill of 3
mg which was made available in 1938, but by
mid-1941 it became a controlled substance, reportedly
because of the amount of time needed for a soldier
to rest and recover after use. Military doctors
were then given guidelines on how they should
issue it.[

Mechanism
of action

Amphetamines
release stores of norepinephrine and dopamine
from nerve endings by converting the respective
molecular transporters into open channels. Amphetamine
also releases stores of serotonin from synaptic
vesicles when taken in relatively high doses.
This effect is more pronounced in methamphetamine
use. Like methylphenidate (Ritalin), amphetamines
also prevent the monoamine transporters for
dopamine and norepinephrine from recycling them
(called reuptake inhibition), which leads to
increased amounts of dopamine and norepinephrine
in synaptic clefts. These combined effects rapidly
increase the concentrations of the respective
neurotransmitters in the synaptic cleft, which
promotes nerve impulse transmission in neurons
that have those receptors.

Chemistry

Amphetamine
is a chiral compound. The racemic mixture can
be divided into its optical antipodes: levo-
and dextro-amphetamine. Amphetamine is the parent
compound of its own structural class, comprising
a broad range of psychoactive derivatives, e.g.,
MDMA (Ecstasy) and the N-methylated form, methamphetamine.
Amphetamine is a homologue of phenethylamine.
At first, the medical drug came as the salt
racemic-amphetamine sulfate (racemic-amphetamine
contains both isomers in equal amounts). Today,
dextroamphetamine sulfate is the predominant
form of the drug used;[citation needed] it consists
entirely of the d-isomer. Attention disorders
are often treated using Adderall or a generic
equivalent, a formulation of mixed amphetamine
salts that contain both racemic-amphetamine
and d-amphetamine in the sulfate and saccharate
forms mixed to a final ratio of 3 parts d-amphetamine
to 1 part l-amphetamine.

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